The Bowers are not your typical, late-nineteenth-century homesteading family. They did not move west to farm Nebraska; they moved east. Matthew Bowers won't be working the land; his wife Lissa will--despite her diminutive size. Papa is dreaming of new ideas and Mama is farming, it will be 17-year-old Jolie who runs the household.

When a boy is killed by a breakaway rail car, Jolie Bowers' compulsion to control is stretched to the limit. In the midst of teaching school, preparing for her wedding, and dealing with the violent reaction to the railroad accident, Jolie finds herself facing trouble from all sides. Her family's homestead and the first house they've ever owned are threatened. The love lives of two of the younger members of the family arouse high emotions and crazy...